News

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched efforts to improve patient safety and quality of care in nursing homes. The Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program offers tools, resources and ongoing assistance to nursing home staff.   

Thanks to the efforts of the Long-Term Care Imperative, HealthForce Minnesota was given funding from the State of Minnesota to create a senior care career awareness campaign -- Caring Careers Start Here. 

The CDC and FDA are investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to romaine lettuce. To date there are no cases in Minnesota, but CDC and FDA are advising that U.S. consumers not eat any romaine lettuce, and retailers and restaurants not serve or sell any until they learn more about the outbreak. 

More than 30 organizations have received approval from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to train Nursing Assistants using the OnTrack Nursing Assistant Training curriculum. Within those 30 organizations, more than 245 students have enrolled in the program. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a Nursing Home Staff Competency Assessment toolkit designed to help nursing home frontline and management staff evaluate their skills.  You can find these materials posted in the Downloads section of the CMS Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program webpage.  

LeadingAge Minnesota has created a web page with a variety of resources on the new Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM), which takes effect Oct. 1, 2019 and will make dramatic changes in how Medicare pays for services in care centers.  

A week has passed since the 2018 election, and lawmakers are already planning for a transition in government and leadership come January. In this week’s election perspective, we share new insight into the Governors’ transition team and legislative leadership and kick off our call for grassroots advocacy. There are a lot of new faces in the Minnesota Legislature, particularly in the suburbs, and we need your support in helping them learn more about our issues before session starts in January.   

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) yesterday published new rates for services under the Elderly Waiver (EW) program and other waiver programs that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2019. The new rates reflect the impact of the EW rate reform that the Long-Term Care Imperative was able to pass in 2017.    

The first report in the Adult Day Services studies being conducted by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has been released and could provide some insight into potential legislative initiatives for the upcoming legislative session: 

Health Support Specialists (HSS) at the Fall Learning Lab presented quality improvement projects that they designed, launched, tracked and refined over the past year. The quality improvement projects, completed through the ICan initiative with Performance Excellence in Aging Services, were designed to transform care at the bedside. After an incredibly difficult round of judging, three groups were recognized for their quality improvement programs:  

When the votes were tallied last night, there was no denying the DFL in Minnesota. DFL candidates for statewide office were victorious in all races, the Minnesota House of Representatives flipped from Republican to DFL control and the DFL in Minnesota flipped two key seats to help Democrats regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.   

The monumental transformation of the Skilled Nursing Facility environment -- and the magnitude and pace of these changes -- poses a great threat to some organizations while creating opportunities for the more nimble and innovative provider, according to the 33^rd Edition of the Skilled Nursing Facility Cost Comparison Report recently released by CliftonLarsonAllen. 

An amendment recently introduced in Congress could push back the admission of foreign nurses in the United States by several years. The amendment would remove the per-country cap on visas for highly skilled immigrants and instead allocate the visas on a first-come, first served basis according to how long an applicant has waited for a visa. 

LeadingAge has launched the Center for Managed Care Solutions & Innovation, a one-stop shop of tools, resources, and education to help members succeed in managed care, integrated services and other alternative payment models. 

Help us break down training barriers! After launching LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation’s OnTrack Nursing Assistant Training with great success, the OnTrack team is now vetting the needs of members to determine if the online, on-demand training platform should be expanded to include other key positions.  

LeadingAge has launched the Center for Managed Care Solutions & Innovation, a one-stop shop of tools, resources, and education to help members succeed in managed care, integrated services and other alternative payment models. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that close to 1,300 entities have signed up to participate in the Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced) Model on a voluntary basis. A new blog post from Health Dimensions Group (HDG) provides basic facts, a fresh perspective on what this means and what providers should do next.   

Help us break down training barriers! LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation’s OnTrack Nursing Assistant Training launched in December 2017 with great success. At this time, the OnTrack team is vetting the needs of members to determine if OnTrack’s online, on-demand training platform should be expanded to include other key positions. 

As we have previously reported, the updated Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) PPS rates took effect for the year that began on Oct. 1. Since our last article, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a correction to the rates that impacted the wage index for some regions. The only Minnesota regions affected by this correction are Duluth and Rochester, and both by only pennies a day. 

A bill that would end the mandatory nurse aide training lock-out and allow nursing homes to regain their nursing assistant training authority as soon as deficiencies have been corrected needs more support in Congress. We need your help! Read on to learn how you can urge your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor and advance this bill.